Reds InsiderFrom news of the day to news of the weird, John Fay provides a glimpse of what it’s like to cover the Cincinnati Reds

John Fay has been the Reds beat writer for the Enquirer since 2001. Prior to that, he served in a variety of roles for the Enquirer: backup Reds writer, UC beat writer, backup Bengals writer and as a general assignment reporter. He is a Cincinnati native and a graduate of Elder High School and the University of Dayton.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Castellini on the spring situation

Reds CEO Bob Castellini is open to continuing to try to work a deal to return to Sarasota. If the Reds do end up leaving, it will be sadness.

"If we leave -- wherever we go -- I would not be upbeat about leaving Sarasota," he said.

That's why the Reds have continued to work to get a deal, despite numerous setbacks.

"This is a big thing for us," Castellini said. "It’s not like we’re trying to leave Sarasota. They've got a tough situation between the city and the county and the economy in all of Florida.

"You have 12 teams in Arizona now, soon to be 14 with the Dodgers and Indians. Most of them have been stolen from Florida. The state is cognizant of that, so they spread around some money to fix up some of the facilities. Ours of is one of those."

But the city of Sarasota and county need to contribute to get the new $41 million deal done. Tuesday, the Sarasota County commissioner could have cemented the new proposal.

“It’s been disappointing,” Castellini said. “But I understand the different crosscurrents.”

The Reds will likely make a call soon -- whether it's to stay in Sarasota or go to Goodyear, Ariz.

“I really feel like the decision has to be made in the next month," Castellini said.

I hope the Reds are able to get a deal that enables them to stay in Sarasota for the long term. Knowing that the Reds have given 110% to the effort to work with the state, county and city officials involved and have a financial stake involved in staying in Sarasota, it says a lot about the Reds organization and the people involved. I wonder if the people involved in Florida are considering the level of fan support the Reds have recieved in Cincinnati in recent years as a factor in their position? If I were a politician in thier position it would be a concern of mine. I sure hope it works out that the Reds stay in Sarasota and I certainly feel better knowing that is their hope as well!

Pat, by law they can't use this funding source (hotel tax) for city employees, only for tourism promotion or entertainment items such as sports facilities that will attract tourism. Besides, the city is behind this 100%. It is the county tha tis balking on their share.

I just read something very interesting on a Reds message board. A knowledgeable guy posted a message, there is a little known rule in the MLB when teams move their spring training camp to either Florida or Arizona they must do it evenly to balance it out. The Dodgers and Cleveland already received permission to move to Arizona next spring. That means the Reds, Sarasota or not, are stuck in Florida until a second team wants to move to Arizona.

Were you or the Reds aware of such rule or is there a rule like that? Don’t the Reds have a option to stay in Sarasota until 2009?

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